Poetica Magazine
Reflections of Jewish Thought
The Editors
Michal Mahgerefteh, Publisher/Editor
Sharon Weinstein, Short Story Editor
Jane Ellen Glasser, Annual Contest Judge
Joan Gelfand, Annual Chapbook Judge
Ricky Rapoport Friesem, Book Review Editor
Nancy Powell, Proofreader
Raven Zipora Hayot, Mailing
Michal Mahgerefteh Editor
Photo by Michael B. Mahgerefteh, November 2007
Michal was born in Israel and has lived in the US since 1986.
Poetica was created by Michal as a final exam during her third
creative writing course with Robert P. Arthur.
Michal is an award winning poet and artist. Her poetry has appeared
in many literary magazines and anthologies encluding Women in Judaism:
Contemporary Writings, Univ.of Toronto, Miaa'mamakin Anthology,
The Poetry Society of Virginia, among many others. Michal is an active
member of The Poetry Society of Virginia and The Prince Books Poetry Group.
Michal is currently working on her B.A. in English - Minor in Creative Writing,
and a B.A. in Studio Arts.
Micha's debut poetry collection, in my Busan, is forthcoming in late 2008,
by the San Franciso Bay Press.
First book reviews are now posted at www.michalmahgerefteh.com
Visit the Kudos Section to review Michal's recent accomplishments
a member since 2007
Sharon Weinstein - Short Story Editor
Sharon earned her Master's degree at Michigan State University, her Doctorate at the University of Utah, and subsequently taught at both universities. She has taught at Old Dominion University, Virginia Wesleyan College, and at The Center for the Humanities at Arizona State University. For eleven years, she was a professor at Hampton University, where she held an endowed chair. She has also taught Creative Writing, American Literature and International Women's Literature in the English and Foreign Languages Department at Norfolk State University.
She has published poetry, short stories, book reviews, essays and articles for a wide variety of national publications, including Lilith, Studies in Black Literature, Ethic Studies, Resources in American Literature, The National Jewish Post, Opinion and The Virginian-Pilot. She has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mellon Humanities Project.
Sharon gives frequent readings of her creative work and conducts poetry and fiction workshops for groups ranging in age from 14 to 74.
Jane Ellen Glasser - Annual Contest Judge
Jane Ellen Glasser’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals, such as The Hudson Review, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Georgia Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review and Poetry Northwest. Her poems have garnered numerous awards from the Irene Leache Society, Puddingstone, and the Poetry Society of Virginia, and she has been recognized for outstanding articles on teaching poetry that were featured in Virginia English Bulletin and English Journal. In the past she reviewed poetry books for the Virginian-Pilot, edited poetry for the Ghent Quarterly, and co-founded the nonprofit arts organization and journal New Virginia Review. A first collection of her poetry, Naming the Darkness, with an introduction by Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet W. D. Snodgrass, was issued by Road Publishers in 1991. She won the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry 2005, and her award-winning book, Light Persists, published by Tampa University Press in April 2006, received an honorable mention in the 2007 Library of Virginia Literary Awards.
Joan Gelfand - Annual Chapbook Judge
An award winning poet, Joan was the recipient of the Chaffin Fiction Award for 2005. Her letters, articles, reviews, and poetry have appeared in national magazines including The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair and Poets & Writers. Widely anthologized, Joan’s poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals, including: Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Jewish Women’s Literary Annual and “If Women Ruled the World,” an international anthology. “Seeking Center – A Collection of Poetry” was published by Two Bridges Press in 2006.
Currently serving as President of the Women’s National Book Association, Joan founded Salon CIEL, an interdisciplinary group of artists. Her weblog may be found at: http://jg.typepad.com/ciel/
Joan received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Mills College.
Ricky Rapoport Friesem - Book Review Editor
Ricky Rapoport Friesem was born in Calgary, Canada and grew up in Toronto, Canada. Her father was a writer and literary critic for the Yiddish press, and her mother a teacher of Yiddish. Yiddish was Ricky’s first language. As a teenager, she was active in the local branch of Hechalutz Hatzair, a Zionist youth movement. In 1956 she moved to Ann Arbor Michigan where she completed a B.A. in Sociology and Journalism, and an M.A in Library Science. She wrote her first poem as a child on the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died and she has been writing poetry, on and off, ever since. Prior to moving to Israel in 1972, she worked as a freelance journalist, a children’s librarian, and the director of a Jewish School.
In 1972, she moved to Israel with her husband and three sons. For the next 25 years she worked as a journalist, editor, and award-winning documentary film maker for the Weizmann Institute of Science, whose Communications Department she headed for over a decade. She has written two cook books: Fruits of the Earth (Adama Books, 1985) and Joy of Israel (Steimatzky, 1976).
She was awarded the First Prize in Writer’s Digest 2007 International Self-Published Book Awards for her collection of poetry, entitled, Parentheses.
Her poetry has appeared in Moment, Ariga, Lucidity, Poetica, the 2007 Voices Israel Anthology and Poetry Canada. She received Honorable Mentions in the 2005 and 2006 Poetica Magazine Annual Poetry Contest, in Lilith Magazine’s 2007 Charlotte Newberger Poetry Competition, and in the 2007 Reuben Rose Memorial Poetry Competition. She was awarded the 2nd prize in Palabras Press’ Dancing with Words contest.
A collection of her poetry, entitled My Intifada, was published in the Pudding House Publications Chapbook Series for 2006.
She is married to a physicist and has 3 sons and 12 grandchildren.
Nancy Powell - Proofreader
Photo courtesy of MindWorm Press
Nancy Powell’s work has appeared in Kalliope, Black Water Review, BlueLine, Virginia Adversaria, The Beacon, Skipping Stones, and most recently the December 2007 issue of SweetBay Review. Her first poetry collection, How Far Is Ordinary, was published by MindWorm Press in March 2007 and is available from www.amazon.com.
She is the current VP for the Eastern Region of the Poetry Society of Virginia, a member of The National Association of American Pen Women, and was on the advisory council for The Christopher Newport University Writers’ Conference for ten years. She hosted a poetry program for Barnes & Noble in Newport News for three years, bringing poets into the area to read and share their work. She was the poetry editor for Virginia Adversaria for three years, and is currently an assistant editor for Skipping Stones, a yearly poetry anthology for the Tidewater area in Virginia. She has done poetry workshops and presentations at a number of local libraries in the Hampton/Newport News/Williamsburg area, as well as at the Newport News Barnes & Noble bookstore. She has been a judge for a number of poetry contests, and is currently a poetry judge for one of the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2007 children’s contests.
Before moving to the Virginia Tidewater area in 1994 from upstate New York, she worked with the writer, Jean Rikoff, from Glens Falls Community College on their Expressions Magazine. During her studies at Glens Falls Community College, she garnered awards for both her poetry and short stories. While attending Skidmore College’s University without Walls, where she was majoring in 16/17th century English History, she attended Oxford University, (St. Ann's College) in England with the ISISE Summer Program. She has lived in England and Australia and has traveled throughout Europe, parts of Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. When not at her day job as Executive Assistant to the President of a manufacturing company, she can be found at home by the Hampton River, and at Iris Art Shop in Poquoson, Virginia each month, hosting the "Last Saturday’s" poetry series.
Raven Zipora Hayot - Mailing
Raven Zipora Hayot is Michal’s six-year old niece of Portsmouth, Virginia. Raven joined Poetica to help with the mailing process: labeling and postage. Raven is a
K- student who enjoys ballet lessons and spending time with her new baby brother, Connor Yehuda. Thank you Raven for all your help.
Mazal Tov to Raven on her Pre-K graduation - June 2008.
